Hoboken council votes to spend $1.3 million for property revaluation

The Hoboken City Council voted 7-1 last night to approve $1.3 million in “emergency funding” to pay for the revaluation of city properties.

Accounting-wise, the money will be spread over the city’s next five budgets, city officials said.

Business Administrator Quentin Wiest said the Hudson County Board of Taxation has ordered the city to complete the revaluation of the city’s 16,000 properties by the end of 2013, in time for the 2014 tax year.

Time is short since the reval could take up to 18 months, according to Tax Assessor Sal Bonaccorsi.

Wiest said if the deadline is not met, a request could be made to the county to extend it by a year.

Councilman Tim Occhipinti said he voted against the ordinance because he was concerned that it allowed the city to bond to pay for revaluation.

“I am not sure why the city is choosing to bond,” Occhipinti said. “This is something that should have been put into the 2012 budget.”

Councilman Michael Russo was absent.

Council President Peter Cunningham said that the ordinance sets the “framework” to allow the revaluation to proceed, but the administration intends to use budget surpluses rather than bonding to pay for the revaluation.